Gerard Deulofeu admits it was a mistake to leave Everton after just one season.

The Spanish winger returned to Barcelona at the end of the 2013-14 campaign after enjoying a successful loan at Goodison.

Deulofeu was hoping to force his way into Luis Enrique’s plans at the Nou Camp but was sent out to Sevilla to pick up more experience.

But the 21-year-old endured a miserable time in Andulasia and Everton moved swiftly in the summer to bring him back - but this time on a permanent deal.

Blues boss Roberto Martinez had wanted to extend Deulofeu’s loan by another season but Barca recalled the wide-man.

Deulofeu now wishes he had pushed harder to remain on Merseyside.

“I don’t want to talk about my time at Sevilla too much because it represents a bad time for me,” he told the ECHO.

“But I learnt a lot, people say you learn a lot from when you are going through bad times and that was definitely the case with me (at Sevilla).

Gerard Deulofeu (left) was not even in the Sevilla squad for the Europa League final last term

“Perhaps had I stayed here for an extra year, when I came here first time, instead of going back to Barca for a month of pre-season training and then being loaned to Sevilla, it would have been better.

“But the decision to come here in the summer was easy because both parties – Roberto and myself – wanted it and the negotiations went on for a while but other than that, everything else went well.”

Deulofeu has already delivered a number of stand-out performances this season, starring against Barnsley, Reading and West Brom.

But for many Evertonians, their defining image of the Catalan remains from his first season with the club.

The Blues were trailing 1-0 to Arsenal in December 2013 with just six minutes left when Deulofeu controlled a cross from Bryan Oviedo, shuffled past Kieran Gibbs and fired past Wojciech Szczesny.

“I can remember it was a good move, Bryan had knocked the ball into me and I was looking to get one-on-one with the defender and then looking to get my shot away,” he recalled.

“Luckily it went in, it was a great goal and a great moment for me.

Gerard Deulofeu shares a joke with James McCarthy during a training session at Finch Farm

“I noticed that the fans were very happy when I went to celebrate. I was happy as well because the Emirates is a hard place to go and when I scored there just over five minutes left and so managing to come away with a draw that day was a special moment.”

That relationship with the Everton supporters was a major part of why he wanted to come back to Goodison.

But why does Deulofeu think he has struck up such a rapport with the fans?

“Because I’m a good guy,” he joked.

“Because their passion is my passion.

“They live the game in the same way I do.”

But don’t expect Deulofeu to fully understand the Goodison faithful just yet.

Deulofeu signed in a permanent £4.2m move this summer

The Spain under-21 international will start English lessons next month but says Scouse is a different language all together.

“The reason I’ve not yet started English lessons is because I’ve been away with the national team quite a lot so myself and my girlfriend thought a good time to start would be in November and then look to try and do as much as we can from then on,” he said.

“Scouse? Never. To understand Scouse is so difficult. If you speak to me slowly then I can understand.